Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to the field of computer systems. More particularly, the invention relates to an apparatus and method for establishing secure communication channels in an IoT system.
Description of the Related Art
The “Internet of Things” refers to the interconnection of uniquely-identifiable embedded devices within the Internet infrastructure. Ultimately, IoT is expected to result in new, wide-ranging types of applications in which virtually any type of physical thing may provide information about itself or its surroundings and/or may be controlled remotely via client devices over the Internet.
IoT development and adoption has been slow due to issues related to connectivity, power, and a lack of standardization. For example, one obstacle to IoT development and adoption is that no standard platform exists to allow developers to design and offer new IoT devices and services. In order enter into the IoT market, a developer must design the entire IoT platform from the ground up, including the network protocols and infrastructure, hardware, software and services required to support the desired IoT implementation. As a result, each provider of IoT devices uses proprietary techniques for designing and connecting the IoT devices, making the adoption of multiple types of IoT devices burdensome for end users. Another obstacle to IoT adoption is the difficulty associated with connecting and powering IoT devices. Connecting appliances such as refrigerators, garage door openers, environmental sensors, home security sensors/controllers, etc, for example, requires an electrical source to power each connected IoT device, and such an electrical source is often not conveniently located.
Another problem which exists is that the wireless technologies used to interconnect IoT devices such as Bluetooth LE are generally short range technologies. Thus, if the data collection hub for an IoT implementation is outside the range of an IoT device, the IoT device will not be able to transmit data to the IoT hub (and vice versa). Consequently, techniques are needed which would allow an IoT device to provide data to an IoT hub (or other IoT device) which is out of range.